Site Updates

I'm aware that there are a ton of dead links around here, not to mention price lists that aren't current, stores and content that no longer exist so I'm going to start working on that- pulling the dead links specifically, first on the pages, then I'll hit the entries. When a page or entry is complete, I'll date it.

Everything should load and function just fine during this time. -MK

Duochrome Pigment Comparisons III

This post will include the following pigments: from Anna's Art Asylum: 53, 52, 59 and 821502... and TKB Trading's Red Sparks- and will starts us into the pink(er) color shifting pigments which, as you'll see later, don't color match to the second set of pinks. Again, there are a few Solar Color Dust Chameleons that could fit in with the color group but SCDs are 6-10um while my estimate of Anna's is 100-260um, around the size of TKB's Star Bites. Red Sparks is 20-200um.

If you click on the first pic to enlarge it and go through them that way, the color shift is a bit more "animated" as the angle changes.

Daylight

Sunlight

Unknown Lighting

Unknown Lighting again.

Ok, that's all for this one but thanks for checking it out. Next part coming, the pinks set -MK

Duochrome Pigment Comparisons II

This post will include the following pigments, all from Anna's Art Asylum: 51, 54, 55, 57 and 412605. These purple-green shifters don't match up with any of TKB Trading's pigments though a few of the Solar Color Dust Chameleons I purchased later could loosely fit- by color, not particle size since the SCDs are 6-10um while my estimate of Anna's is 100-260um, around the size of TKB's Star Bites.

If you click on the first pic to enlarge it and go through them that way, the color shift is a bit more "animated" as the angle changes.

Lighting Unknown

Daylight

Sunlight

Unknown Lighting

Sunlight

Unknown Lighting

Unknown Lighting

Ok, that's all for today. Thanks for checking it out- tomorrow I'll be back with part III. -MK

Duochrome Comparison II-Coming Soon

A very long time ago, 6/17/12 to be exact (where the hell did 4 years go?), I posted an entry titled Duochrome Comparisons Part 1 but never followed it up with any other parts. The intent of those entries were to visually compare for you the duochrome/chameleon/color shifting pigments I owned at the time which included those from the now closed "Anna's Art Asylum", TKB Trading's Moon Dusts, Star Bites and the solitary Red Sparks (the only Sparks with a discernible color shift). I did so much photography taking/reviewing/editing/sorting that I was sick of the entire project- for 4 years apparently- so none of the "regular" chameleons I bought from Solar Color Dust are shown here.

Even though Anna's is now defunct and thus her pigments are unavailable, I'm going to continue with the comparisons here. My hope is after completing my current list, I might find other pigments identical to Anna's (to buy more than a gram) and since we have no idea of the particle size of her pigments, visual comparison is a must.

I've taken photos three different times, outside in sunlight, outside in daylight and the third I'm not sure, possibly a combination of indoors/outdoors. At any rate, I've tried to show accurate colors and the color shift to help you decide which ones you "gotta have", which ones you can live without and which ones look like those polishes or pigments you already own. To save me the trouble of labeling every single picture in the entry, they've been labeled in the pictures themselves.

Each entry will be loaded with photos so I'm going to break it down into parts over the course of several days; the amount may seem excessive but I've actually pared it down a lot.

* Anna's pigments are: #362801, #462805, #22808, #481804, #412604, #412605, #35202, #821502, #35204, #821502, #50, #51, #52, #53, #55, #56, #57, #58, #59
* The Moon Dusts from TKB are: Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson, Luna Blue, Indu Rose, Lavender Luz
* The Star Bites from TKB are: Marinda Star, Shanika Sun, Cherika Moon
* Red Sparks! is from TKB Trading's Sparks! Collection

Please check back soon for the first post in the series.  -MK

Looking for Ultra Chrome Chameleons (UCCs)?

Eventually I'll have to update my duochrome/chameleon suppliers list(s) because a lot has changed in my absence but I have a few new things to add that are too much fun to wait. Like just about everyone else in the nail polish world I find myself captivated by all the color shifting flakes that are now available for purchase; if you want to go the easy route and buy the pre-made stuff, tons of great indie makers are happy to oblige you but if you're a bit like me and want to do it yourself, suppliers are more limited. I found all the current sellers during my research and I'm sharing them with you here.

First, my all time favorite for a host of reasons: Glitter Unique.
At Glitter Unique, you'll find the more normal color shifting pigments, the super-intense Ultra Chrome Chameleon pigments, Crystal Chameleon flakes and the Ultra Chrome Chameleon flakes that are in all those indie polishes. Prices are both competitive and reasonable. Most of the UCCs are sold by the gram which is fine for personal use but if you're into making larger batches, Glitter Unique can supply that too.

The next store would be Spectraflair4u. I remember having a few conversations with the owner via email back when she first opened the store but I've never bought anything from there so I can't share any personal experience, and surprisingly, Google doesn't retrieve many results for "Spectraflair4u" so many I can help bring more attention to the store with this.
At Spectraflair4u you can buy "normal" chameleon pigments, Chromaflair, Ultra Chameleon Chrome pigments, Ultra Chameleon Chrome flakes. Selection, prices and quantities are all very good.

Solar Color Dust sells similar products under a different name. I've not purchased any of these either but I have bought their other pigments and glitters (review and swatches on my blog) so I have all good things to say about the company. As I said, you can find the "normal" chameleon pigments- Two Color, Three Color, Four Color and the Ghost Series, "Super" Chameleon pigments (comparitive to the UCCs, I'd say) and "Super" Chameleon flakes (also looking like UCCs). Selection, prices and quantities are all very good.

Coming next is a store on etsy called ColorCraze2000. ColorCraze has a small selection of Chameleon pigments and some colors of Ultra Chrome Chameleon flakes. Also worth keeping an eye on.

The last store I have for you is Didspade. I haven't bought much from Didspade but I did recently pick up 1 gram samples of their "SuperShift" Pearls, a more concentrated color shifting pigment not unlike the UCCs. They also sell an assortment of other regular color shifting pigments, the C series, CX series, Epic, Space and Twisted series.

For those of you interested, most of these stores also sell SpectraFlair or an alternative to it.

I'm still working on my comparison list of prices/colors (there's really a lot to sort through) so stay tuned for that, I'll post it when I'm done -MK